The Insiders, a Tom Petty tribute band, perform Friday night at the Crystal Theatre in Crystal Falls.

CRYSTAL FALLS — The 2022 Humongous Fungus Fest will bring two special events to Crystal Theatre.

At 7 p.m. Friday, The Insiders present their Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers experience. Saturday will have screenings at 2 and 7 p.m. of “The Humongous Fungus Among Us,” a documentary film that explains the reason behind the weekend celebration.

The Insiders frontman Max Lockwood said he “grew up listening to Tom Petty. My mom would play the Greatest Hits record while she worked out. I’d sit at the top of the stairs and listen to those songs–it was my most-requested CD as a young kid.”

In high school, Lockwood’s band Big Dudee Roo started covering Petty songs at their frequent shows in western Michigan. “Tom Petty was part of the great American landscape to me–a legend by the time I was musically conscious,” Lockwood said. “We got a great crowd reaction with Petty tunes, and people frequently commented that I sounded a lot like him.”

After Petty’s death in October 2017, Lockwood organized the band by pulling together some of his favorite musicians for a benefit concert. When the sold-out show raised thousands for a local domestic violence shelter, The Insiders decided they had a new mission.

“We try to honor what Mr. Petty and the Heartbreakers have done for rock and roll each night,” Lockwood said. ” We’re fans of the music first and foremost. These songs are woven into the fabric of the American identity.”

“The Humongous Fungus Among Us” premiered at Crystal Theatre during Fungus Fest in 2021 and has since been screened at film festivals across the country and local PBS affiliates.

Filmmaker Tim Warmanen, a Forest Park graduate, describes it as “a quirky documentary celebrating a hidden giant, and how its discovery continues to impact the Crystal Falls community 30 years later.” Warmanen hopes the film will be shown during Fungus Fest for years to come, so locals and tourists can learn the history and science behind their humongous neighbor.

Advanced tickets for The Insiders may be purchased at Ben Franklin, The Twisted Twig in Crystal Falls, Iron County Chamber Office in Iron River, The Music Tree in Iron Mountain, online at thecrystaltheatre.org or by calling 906-875-3208.

Admission to “The Humongous Fungus Among Us” is by donation at the door.